What’s the trick with these things?

[clicker]

I butter mine before dropping the egg in and they work

 

[Celyn]

... vinegar, swirling and shallow saucepans ...

No.

Vinegar, Swirling & Shallow-Saucepans is either a firm of lawyers or a few of the very old and Beechingised railway stations.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

They always look to me like they're multi coloured mooncups*


* I've never actually seen a mooncup

 

[Sea Star]

I'm no expert on poached eggs but I thought you just put them in vinegary water you boil and as soon as you add them, turn the heat off and keep swirling around the water until they coalesce into poached eggs. Not sure what these plastic efforts are for.

that's how i make watery, poached, scrambled eggs which i then proceed to throw away, but i'm no expert either.

 

[Celyn]

They always look to me like they're multi coloured mooncups*


* I've never actually seen a mooncup

They're like buttercups, only very different.

 

[Sea Star]

.

 

[Athos]

Best of all re Onsen eggs, which you cook at exctly 63C for 75 minutes, with the shells on. Then peel and eat. Amazing!

 

[8115]

I don't know why all the hate for those silicone things. They make lovely eggs.

 

[andysays]

Scrambled eggs are better than poached anyway,
IMO

 

[Callie]

If I crack the egg directly into water the white goes everywhere and I just end up with a right mess.

How boiling is the water? Get it up to a rolling boil then turn it right down as soon as the eggs are in. Old eggs also make stringy white.

 

[Celyn]

that's how i make watery, poached, scrambled eggs which i then proceed to throw away, but i'm no expert either.

That's the thing, isn't it? Boil eggs, fry eggs, make scrambled eggs, or make them into an omelette. All of those are easy. Poached eggs, though, just seem not worth the bother of learning the various ways of doing it.

If i wanted an egg for breakfast, I really would prefer one that can be simply cooked rather than a poached egg that might or might not work, depending on temperature, amount/type of vinegar, whether the sun is entering Capricorn, and whether the wind is in the west, and whether there is an "R" in the month.

 

[kabbes]

Scrambled eggs on toast without accompaniment or dippy eggs to go with bacon and sausage. Dippy means fried or poached and I will choose either depending on what I feel like that morning.

 

[kabbes]

I don't know why all the hate for those silicone things. They make lovely eggs.

There's nothing at all wrong with a coddled egg. A coddled egg is not a poached egg, however. Which is fine.

I simply can't be arsed with the extra accessories that are needed for coddled eggs, is all.

That's the thing, isn't it? Boil eggs, fry eggs, make scrambled eggs, or make them into an omelette. All of those are easy. Poached eggs, though, just seem not worth the bother of learning the various ways of doing it.

If i wanted an egg for breakfast, I really would prefer one that can be simply cooked rather than a poached egg that might or might not work, depending on temperature, amount/type of vinegar, whether the sun is entering Capricorn, and whether the wind is in the west, and whether there is an "R" in the month.

Quite honestly, it never crosses my mind to worry that the poached egg won't work. I can't remember the last time it didn't work. It's the easiest of all the eggs to make: get some simmering water and crack an egg into it. Wait until toast is ready. Done.

 

[Orang Utan]

My poached eggs always end up a jizzy mess, so I coddle them in a pan like the one on page 1

 

[Fez909]

They aren’t poached eggs if they are cooked in a thingy. They are coddled eggs.

I just poach them directly in about an inch or two of very, very gently simmering water for the length of time it takes the toaster to do my toast. Crack them gently into the water and don’t touch it. You don’t need vinegar, you don’t need to swirl the water. At most, put a lid on it for thirty seconds at the start. As long as the egg isn’t quite old, it just works all by itself.

I used to swear by the inch or two of water method on low heat, but for a few years now I've been doing the pan swirl and the results are much better.

Fill a small pan about halfway with water and bring to the boil. Using your wooden spoon, get a rapid swirl going...the faster the better. Crack your egg in and lower the heat. Put your toast on, and the eggs will be done by the time you're ready for them.

The vortex brings the eggs into the centre of the pan and wraps the white around the yolk, so you get a nice looking result. Similar to the cling film method, but without the impressions left on the white from the cling film's folds.

Sometimes I find the inch of water method leaves my eggs looking really unappealing, even though they taste fine. Appearances count!

 

[kabbes]

Better results than what? I already end up with a well-defined, neat egg not wholly unlike a boiled egg without its shell. I often do four in the same pan, so I have no desire to complicate it by making the water whizz around really fast.

I don't know what is happening for the rest of you, in all honesty, I really don't.

 

[Orang Utan]

I think it takes a certain knack or dexterity to pull off that some of us unfortunately lack.

 

[dessiato]

Mrs D boils some water in a cup in the microwave. She then cracks an egg into it. Microwave on low, for about 30s. They work well.

 

[Thora]

Silicone egg poaching doo-dahs?

My eggs stuck and I had to use a butter knife to get the eggs out then needed two scrubbing implements to get the egg bits of egg white out.

I just put eggs in them then floated them in boiling water. What am I doing wrong? With my eggs?

I put a bit of vegetable oil on a bit of kitchen roll and wipe it round the cup things before cracking the eggs in. Then I squeeze the sides before tipping the cooked eggs out. Any white left wipes off.

 

[twentythreedom]

Dippy means fried or poached

WTAF no it doesn't. Dippy is soft boiled, you eggy bellend

 

[twentythreedom]

My poached eggs always end up a jizzy mess

Try not wanking into the pan - you will probably get better results that way. The eggs don't need fertilising

 

[Spymaster]

No!!

 

[Celyn]

...

Quite honestly, it never crosses my mind to worry that the poached egg won't work. I can't remember the last time it didn't work.

Ah, the confident serenity of the true master.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Try not wanking into the pan - you will probably get better results that way. The eggs don't need fertilising

And it would remove an obvious Health and Safety risk of ending up with a burnt sausage.

 

[Fez909]

Better results than what? I already end up with a well-defined, neat egg not wholly unlike a boiled egg without its shell. I often do four in the same pan, so I have no desire to complicate it by making the water whizz around really fast.

I don't know what is happening for the rest of you, in all honesty, I really don't.

Mine look more like sad fried eggs than boiled when I do the inch of water method.

 

[dessiato]

Mine look more like sad fried eggs than boiled when I do the inch of water method.

And experience tells me you do not want to burn your sausage.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

And experience tells me you do not want to burn your sausage.

Gives a new meaning to this advert.

 

[maomao]

I've given up poached eggs due to my mission to perfect fried eggs anyway.

 

[spanglechick]

I have used the green silicone things. The label on them when new does say to oil them.

I find that the water just knocks them about and they get partly submerged, but then i realised that with poached eggs, being submerged is the point.

They turn out very easily (if pre oiled), and need barely any washing. The finished eggs look uniformly domed, and you dont end up with a pan of egg soup.

However, its more faff than frying, so i don’t do it often enough to have sorted out the timings for a soft middle.

 

[electroplated]

I use these all the time having tried the traditional water/vinegar method, a pan with 4 poaching cups, cling film and the silicon cups work best for me for a variety of reasons. Key point is to spread a small blob of room temp butter (not oil!) inside the cup with the back of a teaspoon and then break the egg in, place carefully into pan with water just off the boil, put lid on pan and get water on a rolling boil for 4 minutes and voila - come out perfect every time!

If the butter is hard and difficult to spread I sometimes put it into the cup and float it in the hot water to soften, then break the egg in before cooking.